Bad Dreams
by Slythindor
Summary: Premonition filled dreams are haunting Hermione's sleep and she's scared for Harry, Ron and Draco. Contain demons, romance, unspeakable evil, and of course - the sarcasm of Draco Malfoy.
1. Bad Dreams Make Restless Nights

I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters, they all belong to JK Rowling. I also don't own some lines - some are quotes from the funny people at Angel, Buffy, Scrubs and people such as Dan Miller and Tom DeLonge :)

**Chapter One – Bad Dreams Make Restless Nights**  

  Hermione had never felt so exhausted. Every part of her body seemed to ache, right from her head down to the tips of her toes. She felt like crawling into a hole and never coming out again. All she wanted to do was go to sleep, but it felt as not even sleep could cure her tiredness.

  _Maybe I'm working too hard?_

  But it was stupid to think that. It was almost the summer holidays; their sixth year at Hogwarts would be ending in a matter of days. Hermione didn't think they'd done as less work at the end of the previous years, so she shook off the thought and sat back in the large armchair infront of the fire with a sigh. She knew Harry and Ron were exchanging frowns over her, but she couldn't even bring herself to open an eye. Let them worry about her for once, it would make a change.

  Harry watched as she drifted off. Not sure if she was entirely asleep yet, he nudged Ron and whispered, "What's up with her?"

  Ron looked up from the chess pieces he was setting up, "I dunno. She's been like it loads lately. Always wanting to sit down and go to sleep. I even saw her drifting off in Potions the other day! Oh! You know that book she got from the library the other day for some 'light' reading, well it was about 200 pages shorter than the one before and -"

  "Ron!" Harry, knowing how his friend liked to ramble on subjects such as Hermione, cut him off before it was too late, "is she ill?"

  "Are there illnesses that make you want to sleep a lot?"

  Harry shrugged, "There seems to be an illness for everything else."

  "Well has she said anything?" Ron asked. Harry saw he wore a concerned look.

  "To me?" Harry said, "of course not. You know how she is, always putting everyone else first. She probably wouldn't even come and tell us if she was dying, she'd be more concerned that I wasn't going to get killed by some un-known thing."

  Ron sighed, "I think something's wrong with her."

  Harry turned back to look at Hermione, sleeping peacefully in the armchair, her head resting on her hands, "She looks okay when she's sleeping."

  "Everyone looks like that when they're sleeping." Ron replied, also looking at their friend.

  Harry shook his head, "I mean that sometimes when you're ill, you get restless when you sleep. Toss around and stuff, y'know?"

  Ron looked bemused, "I have no clue what you're talking about."

  Harry ran a hand threw his hair and shrugged, "We can talk to her in the morning. Tell her go to Madam Pomfrey."

  "Yeah," Ron said. He glanced down at the chess board infront of them, "whites first."

~*~*~

  _Everything was dark. All she could see were flashes of light now and then, whirring past her as if she was stood in a funfair. Then there was noise. All around her. A deep rasping sound. Someone's breath. Someone was near her. But spinning round, she could see no one. All there was was that breath._

_  She stepped forwards, her feet crunching on the gravel below. She had a big urge to make as less sound as possible, but she didn't know why. All she knew was that the sound was getting louder, beating in her ears as if it was inside her._

_  A whir of silver. What was that? It was someone infront, a complete blur stood a few yards away. It was saying something, but she couldn't make it out. It was if she was underwater, the voice was so muffled. She put her arms out, but didn't feel any water. Where was she? The voice kept asking her something, but she didn't know what. She was going deaf, everything fading apart from the sound of that breath._

_  Another flash of colour. Green, bubbling to the right. It was so bright it hurt her eyes. Then the breath sounded. Again and again. Pounding, getting closer. There was nothing she could do. She was drowning. Drowning in nothing, but it was so loud…_

  Hermione woke with a start, sitting up in bed and panting hard. The hoarse breath sound echoed in her ears and she felt so dizzy. She closed her eyes for a second, trying to control her air supply. Once her breath was steady, she wiped her forehead, surprised to see her hand came away covered in sweat.

  Hermione looked around her. She couldn't even recollect going up to the dormitory that night and was shocked to see she was in her own bed. Everyone else was asleep; she could hear their breathing and no one had seemed to stir when she'd woken up.

  Hermione kicked off the scarlet duvet that layed crumpled on her bed, cursing when her foot got caught in the heavy covers. She reached over for the water on her bedside table, enjoying the coldness from pressing the glass onto her forehead.

  _Why am I so worked up? It's just a dream, a stupid dream that didn't make any sense, for God's sake!_

  What was her dream about? It was complete darkness except for the two colours. She tried to think of where they could've come from. Silver and green. The first thing that sprang to mind was Slytherin, but the green had been a bright, luminous green and not the dark one usually associated with that House.

  Then there was that breath. It was like nothing she'd ever heard before. Hermione clamped her hands over her ears, still hearing the hoarse noise in her head. 

  _What does it all mean?_ _Well it doesn't mean anything, does it, I'm just being stupid. People have strange dreams all the time. Like Harry, he's always having them._** But this dream seemed different. She didn't know why, but it seemed like there was something more to all of this.**

  Hermione replaced the glass and lay back down, trying to forget all about the dream. But it seemed easier said than done, as the breath carried on hammering through her head.

~*~*~

  "Hermione!"

  "Mmmph."

  "Hermione!"

  Hermione scrunched up her eyes before slowly opening one. Someone was stood over her. She opened the other eye, letting everything come into focus, "Lavender?"

  Lavender Brown was looking down at her, an impatient look on her face, "Get up. There are two annoying guys outside pestering me to hurry you up."

  Hermione groaned, "Tell them I'll be down soon."

  "Sorry, I have specific orders to get you up."

  Hermione raised an eyebrow, "Since when do you take orders from Harry and Ron?"

  Lavender shrugged, "Since they promised they'd finish that History of Magic essay for me."

  Hermione was about to point out that leaving your homework for Harry and Ron to do wasn't such a good idea, but she was now having robes thrown at her from her roommate.

  "Okay, okay, I'm, getting up!" Hermione cried. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and attempted to get up, but her legs felt like they'd give way and the room seemed to sway.

  Lavender frowned in mid-throw, "You okay?"

  Hermione nodded, managing to get to her feet, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just still half-awake."

  "I suppose that's my fault," Lavender smiled apologetically, "you have two very persistent friends out there."

  "One of their few faults." Hermione yawned. She quickly got dressed in the clothes that Lavender had thrown on to her bed, ran a brush through her hair, grabbed her wand, and stumbled out of the girl's dormitory.

  Harry and Ron were waiting for her outside the door, looking like a mix of impatient and bored. Ron was sat on a step a few above, while Harry was leaning against the wall, his head back against the stone. Hermione had always thought her two best friends were amongst the best looking boys in their year, much to Lavender and Parvati's disagreement, and she found it quite amusing how they still managed to look good-looking aswell as worried.

  _But then, you can help looking worried._

  "Finally!" Ron breathed, getting up from the floor, "how long does it take you to get ready in the morning?!"

  "Not very long, but I wasn't expecting to be escorted down to the Great Hall this morning," Hermione looked from one boy to the other, "so what do I owe this great pleasure?"

  "Er- we wanted to make sure you were okay…" Harry trailed off, obvious to how stupid his reply was.

  Hermione raised her eyebrows, "And my well-being was so important that you were willing to take on extra homework?"

  Ron sighed, "Oh come on, Herm. We just wanted to wait for you for once, is that such a crime?"

  Hermione frowned. Why was she so uptight about this? Was it so bad that maybe they did just want to walk her down to breakfast? She echoed Ron's sigh, "Okay, I'm sorry. Let's go eat."

  As they wandered slowly down to the Great Hall, Hermione was only slightly aware of Ron and Harry's conversation. Her mind kept going back to the previous nights dream.

  "Hey, Hermione…"

  Hermione shook her head, conscious that someone was saying something to her, "Huh?"

  Ron was frowning, "Are you okay?"

  She managed a laugh, "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

  Harry seemed like he was touching on a sensitive topic, "Well… it was just that me and Ron…"

  "Yeah…?"

  "Well, we just thought you were acting a bit…"

  "Strange." Ron finished for him.

  "Strange?" Hermione repeated. They'd entered the Hall now, and made their way to the Gryffindor table as they talked.

  "Yeah, strange. Y'know, you're always, I dunno, tired?" Harry replied as they took their seats amongst the morning chatter of the other Gryffindor's.

  "I've had a lot on my mind, I'm just overworking." Hermione said.

  Ron paused from piling his plate with bacon, "Hermione, we've hardly had to do that much work. How can you be overworking?"

  "I don't know okay!" She covered her mouth, aware that she'd just snapped at Ron, who in-turn was looking at her with a shocked expression, "I'm just a little tired, that's all." She finished calmly before busying herself in her food, knowing full well that Harry and Ron were still looking at her with surprised faces.

  Nothing more was said on the topic through breakfast. Harry and Ron chose to talk about what they'd be doing over the holidays along with Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, leaving Hermione to sit back and listen, which she was quite content to do.

  The first lesson of the day was Potions, much to everyone's dismay. Professor Snape was one of the few teachers who had had no mercy on the students towards the run-up of summer and had instead decided to pile them with extra work. Ron had already aired his views on Snape, saying he thought it should be illegal to give pupils so much work when the weather was so good, which Snape had unfortunately overheard and now took even more points off of Gryffindor each lesson, if that was at all possible.

  "Weasley! You call that a thinly chopped piece of beetle?! Re-chop it, and five points off of Gryffindor for your obvious lack of knife control!"

  Ron muttered something under his breath that would've probably caused Snape to take away all of Gryffindor's points, so it was lucky that the Professor had already walked away to insult Neville Longbottom.

  "Just ignore him, Ron." Hermione advised as Ron hacked his new beetle into pieces worse than the last ones. 

  Hermione had already finished all the chopping and just needed to add the last of her beetle to her potion. She scooped it up in her hand and threw the last of it into the cauldron. The potion hissed and bubbled and the colour changed from a dark blue to a bright, fluorescent green. Hermione frowned. It looked so much like the colour she'd seen in her dream. She shook her head, it couldn't be.

  "Hey, Hermione, can I borrow your pestle?"

  Hermione looked up to see Draco Malfoy leaning over from the table infront. His silver-blond hair seemed to almost blind her.

  "I-"

  But then she was speechless. She could hear it. That hoarse, whispery breath from her dream. It sounded like it was inside her head, pounding against her brain. Her head ached so much.

  "Hermione?"

  She could hear Draco saying her name, but she couldn't see him anymore. The dizziness set in and all she saw was black.

~*~*~

  The breath had gone. The dizziness was still there, but that horrible breath seemed to have gone. 

  _For the moment._

  Hermione sighed; opening her eyes for what seemed the tenth time that day. She was lying in a bed in the infirmary.

  "Good, you're awake." Madam Pomfrey was bustling around. She passed Hermione a steaming beaker, "drink it; it'll make you feel better." 

  Hermione knocked it back, feeling the liquid settle warmly in her stomach and making her feel instantly steady, "Where's Ron and Harry?"

  Madam Pomfrey took the glass off of her, "They bought you up here during first lesson. Said you fainted. They wanted to stay with you, but I had to send them back to class," she tutted, "I've had to send them away everytime there's been a lesson break. No doubt they'll be back in a few minutes, last lesson just ended."

  Sure enough, Ron and Harry burst through the infirmary door a few minutes later; looking like they'd just ran the whole way from Care of Magical Creatures.

  "Hermione!" Ron cried, skidding to halt by her bed, "are you okay? What happened? Did Malfoy do something to you because if he did I'll –"

  "I'm fine, Ron. I just fainted, that's all. And no, Draco didn't do anything to me."

  Ron pulled a face at the mention of Malfoy's first name, muttering something about 'not trusting'.

  Harry was looking down at her, as if he knew something was wrong, "Hermione. Tell us. What happened?"

  Hermione only had to take one look at his pleading face and it was enough for everything to come spilling out, but she managed to control herself. She told him about the breaths, but left out the part about the dreams, still wanting to decide for herself what they meant.

  "I knew it!" Ron cried triumphantly as she finished her explanation, "well, not in the sense of having the slightest idea, but I knew there was something I didn't know."

  Harry was frowning, "You heard a voice?"

  "No, it was a breath. It was weird. Like someone was there, although they weren't." Hermione tried to explain, but felt that it was no use.

  "I didn't hear anything," Ron replied, "all I heard was Malfoy asking you something and then you were off your chair and on the floor."

  "He asked to borrow my pestle."

  "Hmmm." Ron said, clearly not convinced.

  Hermione sighed, "Look Ron, nothing Draco could say would make me faint, okay?"

  "Wait, hold on," Harry said, putting a hand out as if to stop them from talking, "can we go back to this voice thing?"

  Hermione sighed, exasperated, "It wasn't a voice! It was someone breathing!"

  Ron raised an eyebrow, "Herm, sorry to disappoint you, but it was probably yourself you heard breathing."

  "I did not!" She sighed, "it wasn't a human breath. I've never heard anything like that. It didn't sound like anything anyone in the room could've made."

  "Are you saying that you heard something that _wasn't_ in the room?" Ron was now looking at her as if she'd gone crazy.

  "No! Yes! I dunno. It was just… something." She finished lamely, biting her lip.

  Ron rolled his eyes, "Gee, could you vauge that up a little?"

  "I don't know what I heard! But I did hear something. You don't think I just go round throwing myself off chairs and fainting for no reason, do you?!"

  Harry shrugged, "Well I thought it was something to do with Malfoy. Y'know, I actually _saw someone faint the other day when he spoke to them! I mean, it was that painting on the fourth floor but-"_

  "It's nothing to do with Draco!" Hermione cried, but as she spoke his name she could see the flash of silver in her dream and then his bright silver hair all run through her head at the same time.

  "Well what the hell was it then?!" cried Ron, looking at Harry with a dis-believing look.

  "I've already told you!" Hermione replied. Sighing, she said, "maybe you should just go now. I'll be let out later; I'll come find you then."

  "Are you sure?" Harry asked.

  "Positive. I'll see you later."

  There were two muttered goodbyes and the boys shuffled out of the room, looking rather like they'd been deflated. Hermione lay back down, closing her eyes and glad that it was all over. She hadn't known quite how to tell them, and maybe leaving out the dream part hadn't been such a good idea.

  _It wasn't important. It didn't mean anything. It's just that breath…_

  Hermione tried to shut out every last thought about her dream. Feeling drowsy from the potions side-effects, she slipped back into sleep.

~*~*~

  _It was coming. She could hear it. It was getting closer; the pounding in her ears getting louder with each step it took. She could see Harry and Ron up ahead, stood close together. Everything was so whirred, the contrasts of their hair merged together and they looked like one person. There was someone else up ahead too. She could just make out his faint outline._

_  Draco Malfoy._

_  He was watching her. She took a step towards him and the breath got louder. It was so close now. Draco looked scared. She'd never seen him look like that before. It was strange. She wondered what he was scared about. She wanted to know if she could hear what she could hear._

_  She stood still; closing her eyes for a second and just listening to the coarse sound as it came sailing closer. All of a sudden, there was a flash of colour out of the corner of her eye. Something was running past her, towards Draco. The breath rushed at her in a roar and she could hear someone scream so loudly…_

  Hermione was panicking. This was now the second time that day she'd been woken by a dream. Something was definitely wrong. Everything was running through her mind, mixing up her thoughts. From the first dream, to Potions class, to Harry and Ron, to the second dream. And now, to Draco Malfoy.


	2. Bad Dreams Make Concerned Friends

**Chapter One – Bad Dreams Make Concerned Friends**  

  Harry and Ron were doing their last piece of Divination homework when Hermione finally caught up with them in the Gryffindor common room. She'd managed to convince Madam Pomfrey that she was feeling okay, and had been running all over the castle looking for them, even though she still felt a bit dizzy on her feet. Of course, her friends were making up their homework in the last place she thought about looking, when really, it should've been her first.

  "How about if on Thursday I'll get attacked by an unknown object as Venus had aligned itself with Jupiter?" Harry was saying, scribbling it down onto his parchment.

  Ron nodded, "Yeah, and on Friday I'll have a fall in luck because Pluto has entered the third house."

  "Yeah, you will do. We have double Potions that day." Replied Harry.

  "Hey guys!" Hermione skidded up to them, gasping for breath.

  "Hermione! They let you out then?" Harry said, putting down his homework to look up at her.

  "Heard anymore voices?" Ron muttered, not tearing his eyes away from his parchment.

  Hermione sighed exasperated, throwing herself down onto an armchair, "No, but I think something's happening."

  Ron rolled his eyes at Harry, muttering under his breath again.

  "Look Ron, could you at least act like you care about this?"

  Ron looked up at her, raising his eyebrows, "You think I don't care?"

  "I think that we could be dead in two days time and you're being ironic detachment guy! It's something to do with you two and Draco, I just have this . . . feeling."

  "Us and Malfoy!" Ron cried, "I don't think so! Unless it's us hurting him, then we've got nothing to do with your 'feeling'!" He made air quotes with his fingers, "this is stupid."

  "It's not! I know this sounds a little strange, but I honestly think something is going to happen, soon." Hermione replied. She glanced at Harry, "Don't you believe me?"

  Harry was frowning, looking totally confused, "I… I don't know what I believe."

  Hermione sighed. She knew she should tell them about her dreams, but she had been sure that Harry would believe her, even if Ron wouldn't.

  "Look, I promise that something is gonna happen. I just know it, okay. Now, will you both come with me and find Draco?" she asked.

  Ron was outraged, "Hermione!" he shouted, making a few third-years turn round in surprise, "we know you're all trusty with that rat Malfoy now, but don't go dragging us into your little friendship."

  "Ron, Draco saved my life."

  "Yeah but his psycho dad didn't help much, did he?!" Ron replied.

  Hermione answered, "That's not Draco's fault. Harry's on okay terms with him, why can't you be?"

  "Because he's a Malfoy, Hermione. I don't like him, and I never will."

  Hermione knew that getting Ron to help her would never be that simple when it came to Draco Malfoy, "You're so stubborn, can't you just help me?"

  Ron jumped to his feet, gesturing wildly with his arms, "Help you with what?! We don't even know what you're talking about! You don't make sense, all you've done is hit your head falling off your chair and you think you're hearing breaths. Someone was probably just breathing loudly behind you or something!"

  "Well fine, if you two aren't willing to help me, then I'll go by myself!" Hermione got to her feet, swayed a little and then stormed out of the common room, stopping only to push past some second-years blocking the portrait.

  "She's crazy. Totally crazy." Said Ron, watching her retreating back.

  Harry look indecisive, "Maybe we should go after her?"

  Ron looked at his friend incredulously, "Harry, I don't want to be chasing Malfoy all around the school so Hermione can embarrass herself over some stupid thoughts she's having, do you?"

  Harry sighed. He didn't know why, but he had a weird feeling about whatever Hermione was talking about. He knew she wasn't one to get excited about something if there was a chance it wasn't going to happen, but once again he seemed to be stuck in his least favourite place; between Ron and Hermione. He was thoroughly confused, "No. Of course not. But what if she's telling the truth?"

  "Harry, how could she possibly be saying anything that's true? How could she know that anything was going to happen?" Ron replied. Sighing, he carried on, "If you ask me, Madam Pomfrey should've kept her in the infirmary a bit longer!"

  They sat there in silence for a couple of minutes, both boys having various Hermione-related thoughts run through their heads.

  Ron looked at Harry, "Fine! Let's go get her…"

~*~*~*~

  Hermione felt like she was about to fall over. She was so dizzy, she felt it only a matter of time before she was making friends with the concrete floor. Trying to shrug it off, she made her way down into the Hall, praying that Draco would still be there. She did know the password to the Slytherin common room, but after a brief five minutes in there earlier in the year, she was hoping her search wouldn't have to come down to that.

  "Hey, have you seen Draco?" She asked a passing Seamus while she was stood in the door, scanning the crowd that was currently filtering out of the Great Hall. The excited chatter filled her ears and made her feel even dizzier, if that was at all possible.

  "Yeah, he's still at the Slytherin table, I think," Seamus looked concerned, "Hermione, are you okay?"

  Hermione nodded, hoping her death-like grip on the door frame didn't give her away, "Yeah, of course, I'm fine." She gave him a smile to certify her reply, but felt like the weak one she could only just manage didn't justify it enough. _Time for a quick exit_, "I'll, er, see you around."

  "Bye." Seamus said, watching her with a strange look as she walked off into the Hall.

  Draco Malfoy was sat at the Slytherin table, just finishing up his meal. The people he had been sitting with had long made their way back to their common room, but there was still a few other Slytherin's placed randomly around the table. They looked up, scowling as Hermione walked over to Draco as casually as she could manage.

  Draco, of course, noticed something was wrong straight away. She hadn't even reached the table when he asked, "What's wrong?"

  "Nothing too bad. Just that –"

  But she was cut off as someone shrieked behind her, in the direction of the Hall doors. That was followed by another shriek and then some cries as people around them scattered. Hermione barely had enough time to turn around and see what the commotion was, when something ran past her.

  Then it hit her. The breath. It pounded so loudly, she had to throw her hands to her ears to try and cover it up. It was all she could hear properly, everything else sounded so far away. Then there was a scream. It sounded so far off, that she didn't even realise it was coming from her.

  _My dream._ Draco.__

  Draco was shouting something at her. What it was, she couldn't tell. She looked up to see what had run past her. She'd never seen anything like it before. It was barely four feet tall but its features seemed to go on forever, with long arms and legs that seemed like they could be bent in any direction. Its skin was a blue-purple looking colour that Hermione thought must have felt as coarse and rough as it looked. On top of its long, lanky neck was its head; small and perfectly round like a football. Its eyes were small and beady and slightly protruding, while its mouth looked thin and scabby, as if it just blended in with its skin. Out of its forehead came a long, spiky horn which looked much like an elephant's tusk. It was white and glinted in the light of the enchanted ceiling.

  "Draco!" Hermione screamed. Her own voice sounded so far away, just like in her dream.

  The thing was running at Draco, who was scrambling from his seat on the long table. It jumped at him, knocking him backwards and on to the floor, where they rolled straight into the wall behind.

  Hermione wanted to run. She wanted to do something; pull that thing off of Draco, go and get Harry and Ron, something! But she didn't know what to do and she knew that even if she wanted to move, her legs wouldn't allow it. She was about to collapse. Her whole world kept going black. And that voice…

  Hermione was only slightly aware as someone shouted something in magic and the thing went flying off of Draco, skidding on the floor a couple of feet away. Whatever it was, it must have panicked the thing, as the next time the world came into vision again, it had gone.

  "Miss Granger. Sit down here." Someone had her by the shoulders, guiding her towards a seat at the Slytherin table. Dumbledore. Hermione looked up at him. He looked as he always did; not fazed by anything. She had always wondered how a man that had seen so much couldn't be bothered by everything he saw. Hermione felt a tear trickle slowly down her cheek. She didn't know when she had started crying.

  "Hermione. Are you okay?" Draco was there. He wasn't dead. Relief flooded back, and Hermione burst into uncontrollable sobs.

  "MALFOY!? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

  Ron and Harry were running across the Great Hall, having just come from the Gryffindor common room. They looked all sorts of confused as Dumbledore and the other teachers ushered the remaining students back to their common rooms.

  "I… I…" Draco looked from Ron and Harry to Hermione, who was making loud crying noises, "I have no clue what just happened."

  Harry would've laughed out loud at Draco's facial expression, had not he just walked in on mass confusion.

  "Did you hurt her? What did you do to her?" Ron cried, stepping forwards. He was bright red with anger, not knowing what was happening.

  Dumbledore was back. He stepped in-between the group of sixteen year-olds, placing a comforting hand on Hermione's shoulder, who ceased the noises and let out only a few sporadic strangled sobs, "Mr Malfoy did not do anything that would harm Miss Granger. It was him that was attacked."

  "Attacked?!" cried Ron in dis-belief, "By what?!"

  Dumbledore looked at each of them, "That, I do not know just yet. It was some sort of demon, but I am hoping it is not the one we teachers are expecting."

  "A demon?" Harry said, "What do you mean 'what we are expecting'? What's going on?"

  "I saw it!" Hermione cried all of a sudden, causing the others to jump at her unexpected words, "I was going to tell him!"

  "Oh no!" Ron moaned, "This isn't about those stupid voices again, is it?!"

  Dumbledore cocked his head, "Voices? Miss Granger, would you care to explain?"

  "I – I keep hearing these… breaths. They are so horrible. They block everything else out so that it's all muffled, like I'm not hearing anything but them." Hermione replied, "I knew they were going to attack Draco. I saw them –"

  "Saw them!?" Ron cut her off, "you didn't say you saw anything!?"

  "Mr Weasley –" Dumbledore warned, to which Ron fell silent.

  Hermione carried on, her eyes focused on the floor as everyone else stared at her, "I keep having dreams. They tell me what's going to happen."

  "Like premonitions." Dumbledore said, more to himself than the people around him.

  "Yes, like premonitions. I see what is going to happen, and then it happens. They're making me feel so tired and so dizzy. The first time I fainted, in Potions, I had dreamt all of what happened. Then just now, I dreamt it earlier. I came down her to warn Draco, but I was too late." Hermione sniffed, trying to stop herself from bursting into tears again.

  "Professor?" Draco said.

  "Yes, Mr Malfoy?"

  "What do you think that demon is?"

  Dumbledore fell silent for a moment before saying, "Right now, I cannot exactly say for sure. I think I may have seen one a few times before, but at this moment I am as clueless as you three. We will find out soon, I am sure."

  "Where did it go?" Hermione asked, looking around.

  Dumbledore looked thoughtful. Hermione could tell he was choosing his words very carefully, which made her feel even more worried. It wasn't like Dumbledore to hold back from telling them anything, "Again, I cannot say." He looked from Harry, to Ron and then lastly to Draco, "Now I trust that you three can take Miss Granger back up to the Gryffindor common room? I want you all to be very careful and stick together. No loitering around any corridors or rooms, just take Hermione straight up to her dormitory. Then I would like you two – Harry and Ron – to escort Mr Malfoy back to his common room. Make sure he gets there okay." The Headmaster looked at the protesting expressions on the two Gryffindor boys faces before adding, "I want no arguing. Just do it." He gave them all one last expression-less look and walked over to where the other teachers were sat discussing something. They all looked quite nervous and were sending the teenagers worried looks.

  "Come on, you heard him. Weasley, you get her other arm." Draco spoke, bending down to Hermione. He slung one of her arms over his shoulders and circled one of his arms around her waist.

  Ron looked as if he was about to argue, but decided against it. He wasn't happy about taking orders from Draco, but seeing as he had no other ideas of how to get Hermione up to the common room; he did as he was told.

  "Potter, you go get the doors." Draco instructed as him and Ron lifted Hermione up from the seat and proceeded to walk across the Hall carefully with her. If Hermione hadn't have felt so much like she was about to fall over, she would've been rather embarrassed at the tight hold the two boys had on her.

  It took longer than Harry had expected to get up to the common room after they'd gotten stuck half-way up on a moving staircase that had refused to move back.

  "Trust you bloody Gryffindor's to pick the tallest tower," Draco groaned as they arrived at the Fat Lady portrait. He ducked down to free himself of Hermione's arm, leaving her leaning on Ron, "Well I'm sure even you two can get her to her dorm safely now." He glanced at Ron, who Hermione was clinging to as if her life depended on it, and winked at him, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do, Weasley." 

  "Hey!" Harry called as Draco walked off down the corridor, "Where are you going?"

  "To bed, Potter. Unless you want to come with me, I suggest you take Hermione up to _her bed before you get shouted at for loitering." Draco called back, running a hand absentmindedly along the wall as he walked._

  "Dumbledore said me and Harry had to take you." Ron replied, even though he wouldn't have cared if seven demons had jumped on Draco right then.

  "I know what Dumbledore said, but I don't need you two to protect me." Draco said, turning to look at them but carrying on walking, "Forgive me if I'm wrong Weasley, but I think that if you ever saw a demon, you'd probably throw a shoe at it and then run away like a weasel. Actually, I think the shoe part's giving you too much credit."

  "Fine!" Ron shouted after him, "But don't come crying to us in the morning when you get killed!" 

  Hermione was still holding on to Ron, watching as Draco rounded to corner at the end of the corridor and disappeared. She didn't know if there would be any more demons, but she didn't want to risk it. As usual, she was scared for someone. For the first time, that someone was Draco Malfoy.

  "Ron, please go after him. Harry, please." She looked up at her two friends, pleading with them for the second time that day.

  Harry looked over at Ron, who sighed, "Okay, but if that idiot starts spouting off again, I'll come straight back."

  Hermione nodded, eager for her them to hurry up and go after him, "Okay. Just go, I'll go and sit in the common room."

  "Are you sure you can get in okay on your own?" Harry asked.

  "Yes, positive. Just go already!" She freed herself from Ron's arm and lent on the wall for support.

  Harry and Ron looked at her one last time before jogging off down the corridor, leaving her stood alone outside the Fat Lady portrait.

  "Are you okay, dear?" The Fat lady asked, peering down at her.

  "Yes, I'm fine," Hermione replied, sick of people asking her that. It wasn't as if she was ill or anything, why all the fuss? She quickly said the password to get away from the Lady, "Abracadabra."

  Getting inside the common room was easier said than done when it came to how Hermione felt. She struggled to climb through the portrait; lifting a leg up from the floor practically guaranteed a fall. Eventually, she managed to clamber inside and fall into an armchair. She prayed that Harry and Ron had found Draco and for some amazing reason, were getting on okay.

~*~*~*~

  "How can you live down here? It's all dark and dungeon-y and . . . Snape-like." Ron made a face, shuddering at just the thought of how many spiders could be staring at him in the dark corridor.

  "I would've thought it'd be a step up from your little shack, Weasley. We Slytherins better watch out, you'll be bringing your whole family down for a look around soon." Draco replied, kicking what Harry hoped was a stone.

  "Contrary to your belief, Malfoy, I do not live in a shack." Ron said as he tried to walk dead centre. There was no way he was going anywhere near the walls in this place.

  Harry rolled his eyes in the darkness, listening as the two of them bickered. The only light came from the end of Draco's wand, which he was twirling round in his fingers like one of those baton throwers Harry had seen in some Muggle movie. They had been throwing comebacks at each other ever since Ron and him and had caught up with Draco half-way down Gryffindor tower. Ron's promise of turning back if Draco said anything to him was long forgotten and they both seemed perfectly content with arguing as they walked. Maybe, Harry had thought later, if those two weren't so happy to argue and had kept quiet, he would've heard it earlier.

  "What's that?" Harry asked, his ears pricking.

  Ron stopped mid-way through calling Draco about being a spoilt rat to say, "What? All I can hear if this idiot drone on and on."

  "Well I wish that I couldn't hear your annoying drone." Draco retorted.

  "Will you two just shut up a minute!?" Harry had stopped now, standing still in the corridor. Ron and Draco carried on, not aware he'd halted. Harry listened carefully, concentrating hard. It was there again. 

  "Weasley, could you not breathe so loud? You sound like the Hogwarts express!" Draco said.

  "I'm not breathing loud!" Ron shouted back, "I think me and Harry should just leave you to go on your own now."

  "Fine by me." Draco replied.

  "It's not Ron breathing." Harry said suddenly.

  "Harry? Where are you? Malfoy, can you do something useful with that wand and point it back over here?" Ron said.

  "Use your own damn wand." Draco snapped.

  "I would but I was in such a hurry earlier on to stop Hermione from finding you that I left it in the common room."

  "Well then you're more stupid than I thought you were."

  "Well if -"

  "SHUT UP!" Harry cried, "Listen."

  Ron and Draco closed their mouths, apprehensively listening to their surroundings. Harry was straining his ears. There was a sudden sound as some people walked across the corridor above them; their heavy footsteps pounding on the ceiling. Ron moved quickly as a spider fell from the roof near to him.

  "Can you hear it?" Draco asked. He was staring up at the ceiling, looking around.

  "I can't hear anything." Ron muttered, "You two are getting just like Hermione."

  "I can hear it." Harry said. 

  It was a weird sound. Like someone breathing. Harry remembered what Hermione had said about the noises she heard, and found himself holding his breath in anticipation of something happening.

  All of a sudden, something moved in the darkness. Harry didn't know what it was, but he felt something rush past him and slam into Ron, taking him down with a bang on the hard floor.


End file.
